Journal Article

OPTIMIZING INFUSION CENTER UTILIZATION: INCREASING CAPACITY BY REDIRECTING LOW-ACUITY SERVICES TO THE CLINIC SETTING

Terrell, Catherine, Lassiter, Katie, Bloxsom, Devon, Mellott, Holly, Banavage, Adrienne

2025

Overview

Significance 8: Background: Following the shift of targeted and cellular therapies from inpatient care to our infusion center, we identified inefficient space utilization as a significant challenge. The increased patient volume necessitated diverting complex high-acuity services off-site. The infusion center nurses had limited availability to deliver complex high-acuity services due to existing appointments for routine services such as lab draws or dressing changes that could have been safely delivered in a clinic setting. This resulted in an inefficient use of space and clinician expertise as well as a significant loss in potential annual revenue. Purpose: This quality improvement project aimed to optimize space utilization by redirecting routine low-acuity services from the infusion center, staffed by RNs with a higher scope of practice, to the clinic setting. This would allow the infusion center to accommodate a greater number of complex high-acuity services. Interventions: We assessed services rendered to patients and the corresponding expertise required by staff to perform the needed service. We developed a list of routine low-acuity services that could be safely delivered in the clinic setting and a list of complex high-acuity services that required delivery by an infusion center RN. In April 2024, routine low-acuity services were redirected to the clinic, while complex high-acuity services were prioritized for the infusion center. The infusion and clinic leadership teams collaborated to maximize our collective space and resources. We measured space utilization by calculating the occupancy rate of each infusion chair. We calculated the revenue of infusion chairs using a rate of$3,100 per day per chair. Results: After four months of redirecting routine low-acuity services to the clinic setting resulted in 4 infusion center chairs being repurposed for complex high-acuity services. This change will add $ 4,289,600 to our annual operating margin. Anecdotally, clinic staff reported increased job satisfaction due to increased utilization of skills within their scope of practice. Discussion: This project successfully increased space and availability in the infusion center for complex high-acuity services by redirecting routine low-acuity services to the clinic setting. Not only did this project tremendously increase our projected annual revenue, but also, interestingly, clinic staff appreciated the increased use of skills within their scope of practice.

• Publisher: Oncology Nursing Society
• Subject: Scope of practice